A composite image of five photographs show former members of Canada's 2018 World Juniors hockey team, left to right, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé and Carter Hart as they individually arrived to court in London, Ont., on April 30.Nicole Osborne/The Canadian Press
An NHL player who is a former member of the winning 2018 world-junior hockey squad has testified that he briefly entered the hotel room in London, Ont., where five of his then-teammates allegedly sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman, but can’t remember key details about what he saw.
Taylor Raddysh, who plays for the Washington Capitals, testified in London’s Ontario Superior Court remotely from a Virginia practice facility, hours before the Capitals were scheduled to play host to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He had been called as a Crown witness, the first player to testify in the case.
Mr. Raddysh, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, testified on Wednesday that he took screenshots of several messages he received in the early morning of June 19, 2018, after a night of drinking and dancing at a local bar. This followed a Hockey Canada gala celebrating the championship team.
Mr. Raddysh said he received the messages shortly after 2 a.m. from Mike McLeod, a teammate who was staying in the next room at London’s Delta Armouries hotel.
One of the messages, which Mr. McLeod allegedly sent to the hockey team’s 19-member group chat, read: “Who wants to be in a 3-way quick?” Another message, which Mr. McLeod allegedly sent directly to Mr. Raddysh, urged him to “come to my room” if he wanted oral sex.
Mr. Raddysh testified that he briefly entered Mr. McLeod’s hotel room and saw a woman on a bed. Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham pressed him for details, including whether the woman was clothed, but Mr. Raddysh told the court that he could not recall.
“Sitting here today, I don’t remember,” he said.
He said he could not recall how long he was in the room, but that it was “a very short time.”
“I just remember going back to my room,” he said.
A week later, Mr. Raddysh texted Mr. McLeod and told him a Hockey Canada official had called him and “said there‘s an investigation,” according to messages shown in court. Mr. Raddysh’s testimony is expected to continue on Thursday.
Mr. McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton are each accused of sexually assaulting the woman, known publicly as E.M., in the hotel room. Mr. McLeod also faces a second charge of being a party to sexual assault.
Each of the players has pleaded not guilty. The woman’s identity is protected by a publication ban.
At the start of the trial on Monday, Crown Attorney Heather Donkers said the case will challenge the public’s understanding of what constitutes sexual assault, telling the jury that the evidence “may not match up with expectations you have about what a sexual assault is or looks like.”
Prosecutors presented texts and videos in court on Wednesday that allegedly came from Mr. McLeod’s phone as part of a detailed timeline of events surrounding the alleged assault.
Extensive video footage presented in court this week shows E.M. arriving at Jack’s bar with a female friend at about 11 p.m.
Shortly before midnight, many of the players – including Mr. McLeod and others who are charged in the case – entered Jack’s as a group. The players drank from plastic cups and shot videos on the crowded dance floor, according to the video evidence played in court, which was gathered from surveillance cameras and the players’ cellphones.
Prosecutors walked the juror through security-camera footage that documented their interactions in the bar, centring on Mr. McLeod’s interactions with E.M.
Justice Maria Carroccia told jurors that they must treat the footage from the bar carefully, noting that they had “seen evidence that [E.M] and Mr. McLeod kissed at Jack’s.”
“The subject of the charges are the events that transpired at the Delta hotel after men other than Mr. McLeod began coming into the hotel room,” Justice Carroccia said.
During her opening address to the jury on Monday, Ms. Donkers said E.M. left the bar with Mr. McLeod and went to his hotel room, where they had consensual sex.
But Ms. Donkers said the complainant did not consent to what happened later as more people were invited into the room, and that at one point “there were up to 10 men inside the standard-sized hotel room.”
“She was going along with what the men in the room wanted and what she felt they expected of her,” Ms. Donkers said.
E.M. will testify that “she was in this hotel room, at age 20, intoxicated,” Ms. Donkers said. She alleged that the defendants “took no steps to ensure there was affirmative consent when they touched her.”
“Instead, they just did what they wanted,” the prosecutor alleged.
The court saw videos on Wednesday that were captured on Mr. McLeod’s phone of the complainant in his hotel room shortly after 3 a.m. and again after 4 a.m.
“Are you recording me?” she asks in the later video while covered with a towel in a hotel room in front of a closed door to the hallway.
“Ok, good. It was all consensual. You are so paranoid, holy. I enjoyed it, it was fine. It was all consensual.”
The court heard that Mr. McLeod has acknowledged that this evidence was taken from his cellphone.
Video footage later showed her leaving the Delta Armouries hotel alone, shortly before 5 a.m.